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When you pick up an item at the grocery store, what is the first thing you do with it? Some of us simply throw it into the shopping cart, but others look at the ingredient label and other nutritional information before we decide to make a purchase.

It seems as if we should be looking a little closer, and now we have some answers about the tag holding the bread bag together.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

This information comes from Reader’s Digest, and it seems as if there is more to that tag than what meets the eye.

What many people don’t know is that there are different tags or twist ties used by bread companies. They put a different tag on the bag, depending upon the day of the week. It helps grocery stores to know how long the bread has been on the shelves and whether it is time to replace it.

Photo: flickr/Mike Mozart

Typically, if you see a blue tag, it means that the loaf was baked on Monday. Green is for Tuesday, red for Thursday, Friday is a white tag, and Saturday is a yellow tag.

Typically, bakers will take Sunday and Wednesday off. In other words, don’t go shopping for bread on Sunday or Wednesday if you want bread as fresh as possible.

Photo: PXFUEL

At first glance, the color-coding may seem a bit difficult to understand. Then again, if you think about the name of the colors, they are in alphabetical order. B for blue is early in the week and Y for yellow is late in the week.

If you can keep that simple fact in mind, it will help you to buy bread that is fresh every time.